Web Browser’s Incognito Mode Isn’t As Private As You Think

Incognito mode is just for private browsing. If you choose to use Incognito mode, then your web browser won’t be saving any history, cookies or passwords. It can be trackable. If you are browsing in incognito and if you sign into one of Google apps or any third party services then Google or that third-party service provider can sniff your doings.

All major browsers have an incognito browsing mode that allows you to limit the volume of saved data. But will your navigation be totally private? Let’s find out.

Whether it’s privacy or search for sensitive content, many users use anonymous mode to hide their browsing history.

Contrary to what many users think, this mode does not allow to completely erase the navigation track, but to reduce the number of stored data. Thus, with this active mode, only cookies and history are not permanently recorded, with a large number of data being circulated, such as location.

To understand people’s perceptions of this mode of navigation, American and German researchers conducted a study where 460 people volunteered to complete an inquiry into the incognito mode. Each person has been assigned 1 document with the privacy terms of one of the browsers, true or adulterated, and asked to answer some questions at the end.

After analyzing the data, the researchers concluded some troubling points. Overall, 56.3% of people thought that search data was not saved when Google login was done, 40.2% believed that sites could not know their location and 22 to 37% believed that employers, state or third parties could not access their data. Lastly, a small percentage claim that this mode increases virus protection.

Among the terms of privacy analyzed, those of Chrome were those that allowed a better perception of the intended, being effective to inform the rights and duties.

If you are one of those users who think incognito is the solution to privacy, start thinking about an alternative. These modes are intended to reduce recorded data and are not synonymous with security.

If you want to know more about this subject, you can read these and other conclusions in the study referred here.

Web Browser’s Incognito Mode Isn’t As Private As You Think
Reviewed by Rapheal Chukwumah
on
April 30, 2018
Rating: 5